Mitty shuts down St. Ignatius in CCS Open semis

Updated 12:15 am, Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Four quick three-pointers by St. Ignatius and a 14-10 deficit raised the ire of Mitty coach Tim Kennedy.

A quick timeout, stern talk and 15-0 run later, Mitty was on its way to a 59-51 Central Coast Section Open Division semifinal win at Independence-San Jose on Tuesday night.

The Monarchs (16-10) looked very much like the team that entered with four straight wins and was playing its best game of the season. For the second straight game, Kyle Peterson led a balanced attack with 13 points, followed by 12 from reserve Devan Sapp.

Peterson and Sapp combined to make seven of the team’s eight three-pointers. Mike Diaz (11 points) and Riley Grigsby (10 points) did damage on the inside.

It helped to offset St. Ignatius’ explosive junior guard, Darion Trammell, who scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. Mitty now plays WCAL champion Bellarmine, undefeated in league play, in Friday’s title game at Santa Clara University.

“It feels like we finally know who we are,” Kennedy said. “It’s been a roller-coaster season, but it’s definitely nice to see that everyone seems to know their roles and we’re getting so many contributions.”

The biggest contribution might have come from Sapp, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard whose four three-pointers seemed to come just when Mitty needed them.

Two came at the end of the third quarter after Trammell had cut the deficit for St. Ignatius (20-6) to 42-38.

Mitty did a tremendous job on All-League guard Brandon Beckman, who made two threes in the opening four minutes but went scoreless the rest of the way.

It was during that early flurry that Kennedy noticed a lull. The game started 25 minutes late after a scoreboard malfunction.

“We came out mentally flat and I could sense it,” Kennedy said. “You could see it in our body language. I just tried to wake them up.”

Bellarmine 55, St. Francis 50: Also at Independence, 6-4 junior guard Jake Wojcik, son of San Jose State head coach Dave Wojcik, didn’t score until late in the first quarter but wound up with a game-high 21 points to lead the top-seeded Bells (26-1) to a tenacious win over the Lancers (18-8), who got 19 points and nine rebounds from Logan Johnson.

The Bells trailed 15-10 after the first quarter and 18-12 following a three-pointer by Oscar Pedraza, but then went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter and take a 24-20 lead. St. Francis, which got eight points and 10 rebounds by Jacob Milhanovic, closed to 26-24 early in the third, but Wojcik drilled two three-pointers en route to a 10-2 run and Bellarmine was on its way.